[Barbie516]

I drank 3 glasses of wine on Saturday before 8pm I have an EtG on Monday I weigh 127 will I fail?

[odinn7]

Good chance of failing, yes. You MIGHT get lucky and pass but with that time frame, I doubt it. You might have wanted to think about failing before drinking...you could have avoided the worry.

[Alty]

At less than 48 hours it's likely that you'll fail. But I've seen people pass at this time frame before. They got really lucky. Maybe you will too.

What do you stand to lose if you fail?

[AntC]

You will likely pass. See the attached link for a study that showed most were clear of ETG by 24 hrs after drinking 4-6 drinks.

Sensitivity of commercial ethyl glucuronide (ETG) testing in screening for alcohol abstinence

[CravenMorhead]

19 healthy adults doesn't a rule make.

[AntC]

It is the only study I found where they checked ETG 24-48hrs after a measured quantity of ETOH. If you have any other scientific data, please share.

[CravenMorhead]

These two seem to reach the 500ng/ml at about 60 hours.
Biomarkers to disclose recent intake of alcohol: potential of 5-hydroxytryptophol glucuronide testing using new direct UPLC-tandem MS and ELISA methods
Detection Times for Urinary Ethyl Glucuronide and Ethyl Sulfate in Heavy Drinkers during Alcohol Detoxification
The one directly above discusses the use of cutoffs and if you look at some of the graphs you can understand how, if they just lower the limit a little bit, the range of the test can be increased. So if the person here is required to be alcohol free as a condition of their parole than they'll use a value correlated to the creatine in the urine and a lower cut off. It will show up afterwards. Even with individual variation.

This one shows that ETG removal for Adult Alcoholics is around 80h.
Ethyl glucuronide--a marker of alcohol consumption and a relapse marker with clinical and forensic implications.

The bottom line is that the test can and has, according to the above from the same university that you cited, identified alcohol use more than 48hrs after initial consumption. Sometimes over 130hrs in the third article and this was from a study of 106 people.

Questions?

[AntC]

Those are good studies. All participants were known heavy drinkers and had BAC of 0.1 to 0.45 at the time they started checking their ETG levels.
These really do not apply to the OP here.

I can only find a single person who has ever been reported to have a detectable ETG after 80 hours.

I reviewed the raw data from the Helander study you refer to and the majority of those patients were undetectable at 60 hrs after heavy drinking.

Suffice to say, ETG metabolism varies greatly from individual to individual.
I cannot say whether any OP will be positive or negative. I can only give them the data in a form they understand.

[CravenMorhead]

The problem is that they won't understand that. The papers here are at a level that most people won't understand them. I only do due to my biology minor and a few of them are getting to beyond my reach. What I found profound is that during the elimination of the ETG and ETS it would plateau after 40-60 hours before it completely left their system. So while the standard or pre-employment test would show a pass, a test directed at recovering alcoholic that is in a zero tolerance treatment plan wouldn't nor would a ex-convict on probation where a condition is alcohol abstinence.

You've agreed that ETG metabolism varies. It doesn't mean that everyone has the worst case will fail nor does it mean that everyone will have best case, but it means that you can say anything specific. There is so many different factors that even saying 2 days is a gamble.

The other point is the nature of the test. Besides pre-employment testing, the only reason that this test needs to be preformed is if the person in question is being forced into sobriety. Whether this is for rehab, treatment, probation, or sobriety on the job site, it doesn't matter. They're in a situation where they are not allowed to drink. The length of the test is half truth and half warning. If the person who needs to be tested knows that it is accurate 60-80 hours might stay away but if it is only accurate for 24-48hours they might be able to slip more with a sense of cheating the system. So I can almost assume that the time frame isn't 60-80hrs. But it should be said because that is the worst case and you can't assume any better.

[AntC]

I agree with you, Craven.

All the OPs here have already drank. They are just asking for the data. I know they want to be "comforted" that their test will be NEG, but the reality is what I post has zero influence on that outcome.

Most of the posts here start "What are my chances......?". I try to answer that question honestly, based on scientific data. I would hope that they will not drink again to test the system, but I do not think I have any control over that.

[odinn7]

Many actually post here before they drink...wanting to know if they drink on a certain day, how long before they will be clear for a test. I also believe that some that ask the questions where they seem like they have already done it are actually putting it out there to try and get away with it before drinking...to know how far they can push the system. This is why we err on the side of caution here and do not give the most positive answers to these questions. We are not here to help people get away and beat the system. But, we all know that already anyway.

[Alty]

I agree with you, Craven.

All the OPs here have already drank. They are just asking for the data. I know they want to be "comforted" that their test will be NEG, but the reality is what I post has zero influence on that outcome.

Most of the posts here start "What are my chances......?". I try to answer that question honestly, based on scientific data. I would hope that they will not drink again to test the system, but I do not think I have any control over that.

First, unless you're in the room with them when they're drinking, you can't say with any certainty that "all the OP's here have already drank".

Second, comforting by giving them the best case scenario, and not telling them that it's very possible to fail based on what they posted, is not comforting at all. You're telling people they'll pass, when you yourself said that it's not a sure thing, it's not something you can predict. You're giving false hope. If they pass, great, but what happens when they fail because you were trying to comfort them?

We also post based on scientific data. I have done a lot of research on this. The experts all agree that an ETG can detect alcohol consumption up to 60-80 hours. Some even say that it can be detected up to 5 days.

We've all heard of people that passed before that time frame. I've heard of people that passed 19 hours after drinking heavily. I've heard of people that failed 5 days after drinking only a few drinks.

We can only give them the info that's out there, and is considered the standard.

Unless you know the OP's metabolism, know their history, know everything, comforting them isn't possible. Facts are.

Bottom line, at 48 hours, there's a chance this OP will fail. Err on the side of caution. Don't sugar coat it just to make the OP feel better. You're not doing anyone any good by doing that.

[Barbie516]

Thanks everyone it l

[Barbie516]

Thx everyone it looks like I passed I won't do it again!

[AntC]

Good girl.